For my birthday, I received a £30 Lush voucher from my family, which I was delighted by as Lush is definitely one of my favourite stores. While I am captivated by the bright, beautiful colours and enchanting smells of the bath bombs and shampoo bars, I knew that I wanted perfume this time. I’ve had Vanillary for years, and I adore the sweet, comforting scent of it so I definitely knew that I liked their perfumes. However, while I’m used to ordering Lush products online, I was certain that I needed to smell the perfumes for myself, so a couple of weeks ago I went to their Manchester Arndale store!
When I got there, I headed straight for the beautifully displayed Gorilla Perfumes section and was greeted by a very welcoming employee. She asked me what scents I like already, and I mentioned my love for Vanillary. She then showed me Smugglers Soul and Kerbside Violet. While they were pleasant, t
hey weren’t quite what I was looking for so I asked to try All Good Things. I’d read about it online, and the reviews really stood out to me. I’ll admit that when I first tried it, I wasn’t sure. It was very smoky and strong, so it’s definitely a scent that creates an immediate first impression. There was something about it that really intrigued me though, so I sprayed some onto my wrist and decided I’d wait and see how it developed before making a decision. I then tried out Imogen Rose and felt similarly confused. It started out as a very strong and green floral fragrance, which I wasn’t immediately sold on. Again, I didn’t want to immediately rule it out so with All Good Things on one wrist and Imogen Rose on another, I headed out of Lush to wait for the scents to mature on my skin for a while.
As I walked around the Arndale Centre, I fell more and more in love with the perfumes as each minute passed. I must have looked so strange but I couldn’t stop smelling both of my wrists! The Lush stores can be quite a sensory overload, so being away from all the other smells and just having the two perfumes on my wrists meant that I could really appreciate them. I knew I had to buy both, so I bought All Good Things in the 10ml liquid bottle for £20, and Imogen Rose in the 12g solid form for £10. I did this because All Good Things is just so multi dimensional that I just needed to have it in the stronger, liquid version. On the other hand, Imogen Rose is a lot more soft and sweet, which meant that I felt the solid perfume also did it justice. I actually found that I preferred the solid version – the talcum powder scent makes a noticable appearance, meaning that it’s a lovely, subtle and delicate scent for daytime wear.
So, I’ve talked a lot about why I love these perfumes, but I haven’t really mentioned what they smell like! It’s quite hard to convey over text as the scents are both just so unique and the experience you feel when you smell them is almost indescribable, but I will certainly try:
As I’ve mentioned, All Good Things is perhaps the most multidimensional perfume that I’ve ever tried. When you first put it on, you’re hit by a smoky, encapsulating burst of cedarwood oil. It’s very strong, which means that one spritz is all that you need. This strong smell might be too much for some people, but I’d encourage anyone who samples it to give it time to develop as within less than an hour, it mellows significantly and the cedwarwood oil gives way to a much milder, sweetly smell. It smells quite like toffee or vanilla to me, which as a Vanillary addict, is probably why I like it so much. Overall, it’s a very comforting fragrance which reminds me of an autumn night at a bonfire. The Lush assistant who helped me summed it up perfectly when she said it makes her feel like she’s wrapped in a warm, cashmere blanket.
Imogen Rose, on the other hand, starts out a lot more subtly, largely due to me having the solid version. Of course, the rose oil creates the first impression and is quite a green floral, rather than a sweet floral scent. The Lush website says that the perfume contains vertivert, ambrette seed and bergamont oil, and while I don’t get a strong sense of any of those in particular, they definitely work together to make this such a complex, lovely perfume. In particular, I was struck by how much I could smell a talcum powder scent in the solid perfume. This, paired with the rose, makes it a feminine fragrance but with enough kick to prevent it from being cloying or boring.
As I’m sure you can tell, I am delighted with both of these perfumes. They last well (although you could probably do with topping up the solid perfume a couple of times in the day) and while the prices might seem a bit steep at first, I’m convinced that they’ll last me a good few months. I actually have samples of Flower’s Barrow, Princes Cottongrass and Furze on their way to me, so I can’t wait to try them out and hopefully add even more to my Gorilla Perfume collection! I really hope this review has helped you, but I’d definitely say that perfume is something you must buy in store where you can sample it for yourself.
Do you have any Lush – or non Lush – perfumes that you want to rave about? Let me know in the comments!
The Annie on Sunday 